Every year one of our employees goes away with his family for a week. Every year that he goes away we tend to get slammed with work; this year is no exception haha. With over 10 separate jobs scheduled for the week, it’s a miracle we’ve been able to stay the course. That’s the plus side of only having top notch people within our company, everyone is able to pick up the slack. That’s the way it should be though, just like a sports team; when someone goes down, the team picks it up. The reason I believe we’re so successful is because rather than barking orders down the line, we treat everyone as equals and hold each other accountable for our actions. In my experience, leadership that talks down to their employees tend to receive poor quality work. Not that I’m a believer in the participation trophy type of deal but when you’re honest and hold people accountable without talking down to them you get so much more. It’s definitely understandable why some people might find it difficult but once you truly learn how to handle that type of interaction you can get incredible results. There are a ton of great books on leadership and communication that can help you achieve your desired goals for effective communication skills. Once you learn a few techniques and different aspects of the psychology behind those techniques, it all starts to come together.